1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a printer having an adjustable paper tray or cassette that is user programmable as to a size of paper loaded therein. The invention is more particularly related to a printer utilizing an adjustable paper tray having a user selectable switch having positions for identification of one of plural predetermined paper sizes and an alternate position for identification of a paper size that is user selectable from a menu or other alternate selection means associated with the printer. The invention is still further related to a printer having an adjustable paper tray that accepts custom size paper and is user programmable such that custom size paper loaded is registered in the printer as being loaded into the adjustable paper tray.
2. Discussion of the Background
One of the increasing demands placed on computer related equipment in both home, school, and work environments is increased flexibility to perform varied tasks. Printers are utilized to print reports, faxes, books, pamphlets, overlays, labels, graphics, etc. Each of these items are best presented in a unique format on papers and/or materials of various sizes.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional setup of a computer 5 and a printer 1 attached via a cable and/or other network 3. The printer 1 includes a connection port 7 for attaching the cable and/or other network 3 to the printer 1 and a paper tray 9 for storage of paper to be used by the printer 1.
In printing devices, such as the printer 1, it is necessary for a printer engine and printer controller of the printing device to know the size of paper in each input tray. Since a document is imaged to print on a given sized paper, the printer controller needs paper size information in order to select the proper paper tray for printing a document. The printer engine requires the information so that it can properly feed and transport the paper through the printing system.
Some printers use a system of sensors to locate the paper guides or sense the edges of the paper, but this is a complicated and expensive method. Others use special cassettes for each paper size that are encoded in some manner with the paper size, however, this method is cumbersome since a different cassette is needed for each paper size.
Another less complicated and less expensive method is to have the user set a dial or slide associated with a paper tray that indicates the paper size and movable paper guides that can accommodate a range of paper sizes. However, for practical purposes, a dial or slide has a limited number of physical position settings.
FIG. 2 illustrates the details of the paper tray 9 which includes standard or pre-cut paper 11, paper guides 13, position settings 15, position setting identifiers 17, and a dial selector 19. Therefore, when a user needs to print on one of paper sizes A, B, or C corresponding to the position setting identifiers 17, the user moves the paper guides 13 to corresponding position settings 15, and positions the dial selector 19 to a selection corresponding to the position setting identifiers 17 and size of the standard or pre-cut paper 11. The printer 1 then reads the position of the dial selector 19 to register a size of the standard or pre-cut paper 11.
FIG. 3 illustrates a typical page size dialogue 30 which is displayed on a computer monitor and utilized in a conventional computer application. The page size dialog 30 includes a paper size selection box 33, a pull-down selection menu 35, orientation and source identifiers 37, and control buttons 39. Before printing, the user selects a paper size from the pull-down selection menu 35 which is then displayed by the paper size selection box 33 and orientation and size identifiers 37. Control buttons 39 affirm or cancel the users selection and give the user an option of editing, deleting or creating new paper sizes to be displayed in the pull-down selection menu 35.
FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart for printing on standard or pre-cut paper 11. At step 43 the user loads the standard or pre-cut paper 11 into the paper tray 9 which includes removing the paper tray 9, placing the standard or pre-cut paper 11 in the paper tray 9, and setting the paper guides 13 in position settings 15 corresponding to the size of the standard or pre-cut paper 11. At step 45, the user positions the dial selector 19 to an appropriate position also corresponding to the size of the standard or pre-cut paper 11, and reinserts the paper tray 9 into the printer 1.
At step 47, the user selects a paper size and source for a document or other item to be printed from the page size dialog 30 or other paper size entry means of an application associated with the document or other item to be printed. This step includes invoking the page size dialog 30, selecting a page size from the pull-down selection menu 35 and affirming that selection. For example, utilizing the page size dialog 30, the user may select 81/2.times.11 paper in the paper size selection box 33 and affirm that selection by pressing the OK button from the control buttons 39.
At step 49, the user prints the document by invoking an appropriate graphic button, or other command sequence as ordinarily required by the application associated with the document or other item to be printed.
FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a conventional application 53 interfacing the printer 1. The conventional application 53 is hosted on an operating system 51 resident on the computer workstation 5. When the user invokes a print command from the conventional application 53, the document or other item to be printed is communicated to a printer driver 55. The printer driver 55 is a printer and operating system specific software interface. The operating system 51 sends signals in accordance with instructions from the printer driver 55 to a printer port and/or network card 59 via a printer port cable 57, thus placing signals corresponding to the document or other item to be printed on the cable and/or other network 3 connected to the printer 1.
The above description describes a conventional setup of a computer 5, printer 1, and a conventional application 53 utilizing a print command. Of course, numerous other configurations and variations on specific applications are also known, but have the same basic functionality. However, regardless of configuration, paper trays utilized in modern printers are subject to the limitations described above and cannot accommodate a single paper cassette which can accommodate many varying paper sizes and have the printer know of the existence of the paper size.